Lasting Love
by SecretsUnleashed
Summary: What will happen between Alex and Piper after the incident on Christmas Eve? None of these characters are mine, they all belong to the creators of Orange is the New Black.
1. Chapter 1

"You ain't worthy of nobody's love!" the meth head "angel" screeched. Piper knew that it was true, she had once again abandoned Alex for the safety of a boring life with Larry only to realize, too late of course, that she didn't really want the boring safety, she wanted thrills and passionate love that she could only find in the warmth of Alex's love.

Piper sprung forward, the realization of how true Pennsatucky's words were made her see red, the anger that she felt for not only herself, but for the redneck who brought it to her attention was now rhythmically smashing the woman's remaining teeth in. Piper lost all track of time, all that she could see and feel was the pain of her broken heart and the motionless woman below her. In that moment nothing made sense, and she was so distracted that she failed to notice the door to the building. The next thing she knew, piper was wrapped up in Alex's crying, shock and realization finally setting in as Alex demanded answers as to what she had just stumbled upon.

Piper told Alex all about her conversation with Larry earlier that day and then about her skirmish in the shower with those Jesus freaks. She described walking away from Alex's bunk and sitting at the Christmas pageant until it became too much for her. Alex cooed in Piper's ear, assuring her that everything would be okay. But the two of them bot knew that despite Dogget having initiated the fight, Piper would be spending time in SHU and possibly being sent down the hill for the brutal beating that she had inflicted. As much as she craved Alex's company in these last few moments before her crime would be discovered, she couldn't risk Alex taking the fall for this, so she stood up and begged Alex to go back inside and act like she hadn't seen a thing. Alex understood that Piper was showing that she was no longer only thinking of herself, and though it pained her to leave Piper in this mess all alone, she started back towards the door. With the door held open she turned to Piper, "I still love you kid, and I always will. I'm so sorry that turned you away the other day, I had no clue how much you were hurting. I thought that I needed time to get over you, but that won't ever happen for me. Don't go too crazy in the box, I'll be right here waiting for you when you come back. I'll miss you kid." And with that Alex was gone.

Piper stood outside in the snow staring down at Dogget's unmoving body for what seemed like years. She figured that eventually the CO's must have realized that she was missing at evening count and had come looking for her because out walked Bennet and Fischer who with shocked expressions interrogated her and then hauled her right back to her worst nightmare. Being alone with herself in the SHU.


	2. Chapter 2

Alone again. Piper found herself alone, trapped in the tiny hell hole that was a cell in the SHU. She was trapped in with only her thoughts. All of her time was spent thinking about the past few weeks. About how things had been so perfect, and then had crashed and burned. How she had led Larry on, even after she knew that she couldn't be with him, and about how she kept hurting Alex, the one person who would always love her. She promised herself that no matter what it took, she would never abuse Alex's unfaltering love ever again.

In SHU it's hard to differentiate days from nights, hallucinations from nightmares, and mostly who you were from who this place was turning you into. After a few weeks the screams stopped being a nuisance to Piper and began to be soothing. When she found the courage to sleep, the screams of her fellow inmates became her lullabies. She stopped worrying about when she would get out, in her mind she thought that Dogget must have died and that in return she would die, alone in the cell, never getting to live her life with Alex. Whenever she thought of that beautiful woman she would momentarily forget her surroundings, she could close her eyes and feel Alex's lips on hers, feel their loving embraces, when she thought of Alex she was momentarily able to forget how terrified she was.

Three months. Three months passed Piper by before she got to see another human face. Right when Piper had given up all hope that she would ever get out, the big metal door to her cell opened and O'Neil was staring her in the face. "Chapman up! We're taking you back to camp today. But you better keep yourself in line or you will never see the light of day again." Piper was shocked, her legs felt like wet noodles and her heart was fluttering to the beat of a mockingbirds wings. It took O'Neil threatening to leave her in the cell for her to muster up the strength to stand and walk towards the guard. She was finally going home, the only home she wanted, to Alex.

When she got back to camp it was in the middle of the day, all of her fellow inmates were at work, so O'Neil told her to shower and go to laundry to get a fresh pair of khakis, she had lost so much weight in the SHU that hers looked like they were swallowing her whole. Piper had never missed showering so much in her life, even the luke warm water of the E dorm showers felt like a magnificent flowing hot tub. Once she had showered and been issued a new uniform Fischer took her to her new bunk, a new inmate had been assigned to her bunk in the ghetto while she was in the SHU. She was now in the suburbs with all of her friends, but she couldn't help but think how she would miss Taystee and her loud rants.

While waiting for her friends to return from work so that she could catch up on all that she had missed, Piper laid down in her bed, feeling like the metal frame with the tiny flat mattress was the most comfortable place in the world. For the first time in months she drifted off into a peaceful sleep. She dreamed of Alex.


	3. Chapter 3

Piper woke up to lips at her ear "Wake up kid," Alex whispered softly into the sleeping Piper's ear, "You're finally home." When Piper opened her eyes and saw the smiling woman she couldn't restrain herself, she immediately closed in, slamming Alex into an unexpected, passionate kiss. In the kiss she could feel that Piper was changed, she could feel the longing. But she could also feel how decisive she was now, there was no longer a doubt in Piper's mind on whether kissing Alex was what she wanted to be doing. When they broke off their kiss Piper sat for entire moments, just staring into Alex's beautiful eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere kid," Alex smirked, "Even if you blink, I promise I'll still be right here." Still Piper would only look away when it was a necessity. They laid there for a while silently, just holding each other. Before long news of Piper's return had spread throughout the prison and her cube was full of friends coming to welcome her back. Even people whom Piper had thought didn't like her had shown up to tell her they missed her. Among them were even Red and Watson. Red pulled Piper aside for a moment and looked lovingly into her eyes, "I know your first few weeks here we started off a bit shaky, but since you've been gone I have realized that you have become one of my girls, and things weren't the same with you gone." Piper wasn't used to seeing Red so open and after this declaration Piper flew in to hug her. "Thank you Red, you'll never know how much that means to me."

About an hour before dinner, Piper's cube emptied out and Alex and Nicky were the only two visitors who had yet to leave. "Well," Nicky said with a smirk "I'm sure the two of you have a lot of catching up to do." The innuendo in her statement was clear. "So I'll leave you to it, see you at dinner." With a wink she left the women alone.

For the first time it what felt like forever Piper just got to sit and talk with Alex. She told her about how horrible her time in the SHU was, and Alex told Piper how thin and fragile she looked. They talked about all of the things that Piper had missed while she was gone and all the gossip circulating. "The Mexicans who took over the kitchen got caught keeping the good food for themselves instead of sticking to the menu, so they got sent back to yard duty and Red's girls went back to the kitchen. Yoga Jones went back to teaching her classes and sometimes she and Watson teach together. Sister Ingalls got a group of girls together to re-paint the walls in the chapel but without their leader the bible thumping meth heads are rarely there." That reminded Piper, "What happened to Pennsatucky? Is she…" "No," Alex said, "she lost most of her teeth and had a broken cheek bone but she's alive. They reviewed the tapes and saw that she started it, so she got sent down to max security, but we all got a warning that if anything like that happened again there would be hell to pay." "Thank god." Piper sighed. She couldn't have lived with herself if she had killed Dogget, even if she did deserve it. She knew that she would have to talk to Caputo sooner or later about what had happened, but she planned to put that off as long as she could, not wanting to find out how much longer she would have to stay for her brawl on Christmas.

Piper and Alex walked to dinner hand in hand and sat at the table with all of their friends. Everyone was happy to see Piper back and more than one person commented on how Alex had changed while she had been gone. They told Piper that Alex was always glum and rarely talked to anyone. They said that the first time that she had smiled in months was when someone had told her the news of Piper's return. She hadn't stopped smiling since.


	4. Chapter 4

**Christmas Eve: Alex POV**

Piper left me again. I wish I would have known better than to break down my walls for her again, but I love her and I always will, so I'll always let her in, whether she deserves it or not. Nicky was in my cube when Piper came by, the look in her eyes was frantic, one I had never seen in them before, and I knew that something was wrong. But I was so hurt, I turned her away, and while watching her run out of my dorms, tears in her eyes, a piece of my heart broke off.

When I saw Piper get up and storm out of the Christmas pageant I was alarmed, Piper loved Christmas and everyone was here, this should have been her favorite moment since her arrival. For a while I tried to ignore the knowing at my stomach, telling myself that I didn't care what was going on. Finally I couldn't stand it any longer, I told myself that I would just go for a long walk, and if I happened to run into Piper then I would evaluate the situation.

I walked past the door leading to the yard, officer Healy was just stepping inside and shaking off his shoes, I heard wild screams like those of a madman, and soft grunts of pain. I wondered briefly why Healy just seemed to be ignoring those, but I couldn't help but go out and see what was going on.

I grabbed Piper off of Dogget, she was still fighting, still savage, I held her tight against me, I knew that eventually she would calm down and so I just sat and kept her there until she did. When her breathing slowed and her eyes lost that crazy glint I asked her what had happened. I was heartbroken and ashamed. It was all my fault, Piper had almost died twice today while I had just sat idly by. She needed me to protect her, to keep her safe. The one job that I vowed I would always do, and today I almost lost the love of my life because I had forgotten that promise.

When Piper asked me to leave her, to let her take the sole blame for the incident it made me sick. I couldn't take the thought of just leaving her here, but she insisted. She was finally owning up to all of the people and things that she had done wrong, and I knew that this was her first and final act of selflessness. With tears in my eyes and a crack in my heart I walked into the building, I knew that eventually they would find Piper and the body and she would be gone, possibly for good. I went to my bunk, buried my head in my pillow and cried all night, exhausted I awoke to Nicki at my door, ready to tell me the news. I told her to fuck off and I reburied my head. I didn't get out of bed for days.


	5. Chapter 5

**Alex POV pt. 2**

I can't remember the last time that I smiled. Piper has been gone for exactly one month today, and she hasn't left my mind for a moment of it. I can only coast through the days now, wake up, eat breakfast as quickly as I can, avoiding eye contact with my friends and leaving as soon as I could. I would go to work, go to meals, treating every one of them like I did breakfast, and then I would sleep. I couldn't find joy in anything, not without Piper. She was the sun for me here, this place was a black hole and she was the only thing making it bearable for me, but now she's gone.

The day that Piper came back was just like all the others. Alex woke up miserable, showered, ate and then headed to work. When she finished her duties for the day and headed back up to her bunk she noticed a strange aura around the camp. People were buzzing more than normal, there must have been some juicy new gossip, but Alex didn't care much. Then Nicki ran up to her, "Yo Vause! I'm surprised you've still got that frown on your face. Hasn't anyone told you?" She hadn't talked to Nicki in weeks, now suddenly she was surprised about Alex's mood? What was going on? "Heard what?" Alex said halfheartedly, sure that whatever the news, it couldn't be nearly as exciting as Nicki was leading on. "Your girls back." Nicki said with a smile on her face. "We all know how much you've missed her, people have been looking for you all morning. She's in her cube asleep, cheer up and go see her." Alex couldn't hide her smile. Nicki was a good friend, they had hooked up that one time, but they both knew they couldn't be together. They were both hooked on their girls, Nicki on Lorna and Alex on Piper, and they loved each other, but not enough to be fuck buddies and certainly not enough to be together. Their hearts belonged somewhere else, and so they had just stayed friends, not even needing to have a discussion about it.

I practically ran to Piper's bunk, I had missed her so much, missed her smile, her laugh, the smell of her hair when it flew into my face, the warmth I always felt when we were together. It had all been missing for weeks and it left a hole in my heart. The closer I got to Piper the more I could feel her sheer presence filling in that hole. I turned the corner and saw her, lying in bed with her cute little smile plastered on her face, sleeping like an angel, and she was just so beautiful. I sat and stared at her for a few minutes, then I couldn't stand it any longer, I leaned in and started whispering in her ear, she stirred slightly and then turned and looked at me, the smile from her dream growing the moment she realized that it was me.

I couldn't breathe. I knew what that smile meant, she had missed me. Despite me failing to keep her safe and turning her away, leaving when she needed me the most, when she had nothing to do but sit in the snow and wait to be discovered. She still loved me, and I could see in that smile that she would take me back. She was staring at me too, and to ease the emotion rising in me I joked with her, told her I wasn't going anywhere. That statement was so much truer than she knew. In that moment I vowed to myself that no matter what happened, no matter what either of us did or said, I would never leave this woman again. Would never just give her up so easy, as I had so many times before. Piper and I were in love and despite all of our hardships, I promised myself that I would do everything in my power to end up with the girl I loved.


	6. Chapter 6

During her stay in SHU, Piper's job in the electric shop had been filled by new inmates, so when she returned to camp she had to be reassigned. Out of sheer luck she was placed on laundry duty to take over Pennsatucky's job. When Caputo told Piper of her new job assignment she tried to act calm, not wanting him to know that laundry was the best job that she could ask for. When she left Caputo's office she ran to Alex's bunk. "Alex!" she yelled excitedly. "Hey kid, what's up? Why are you so hype?" Alex asked quizzically. "I got my new job assignment today," Piper said smiling, "guess what it is." Alex sat for a moment confused, what could Piper be so excited about? Unless... "No way!? They gave you laundry?" "Yeah" Piper smiled, "Now we can be together all day." Alex couldn't help but think that fate was on her side.

Heading to work the next day, Piper ad Alex left breakfast hand in hand. Alex spent the day showing Piper how to use the machines, how to keep track of inmate tickets, and what bin to put them in according to the inmates designated laundry day. Every time that Piper turned around she would catch Alex's eye, they would find any excuses to talk and to touch while still getting work done and making sure that none of Dogget's crew had any reason to report them to Caputo.

After work they headed to the TV room to meet up with their friends and play cards. When they walked in Nicky and Morello smiled at them. "It's so nice to see the two of you this happy." Lorna said, "I remember that feeling, never wanting to be separated, Christopher and I used to be joined at the hip." "Not this bullshit again," Nicky snorted, "Morello if we wanted to hear about your love life constantly we would ask. Give it a rest already with this Christopher shit." Everyone could see the tears begin to well in Lorna's eyes at Nicky's hurtful words. Before her tears spilled over she looked at Nicky, "Fuck you." And with that she ran out of the room.

"Way to go Nichols," Alex said, although Nicky was her friend and she sympathized the feelings that Nicky had for Lorna, she knew that Nicky had royally fucked up and that Lorna hadn't deserved that. "Shit, what have I done?" Nicky asked, "What do I do?" "Just go to her," Piper instructed, "tell her that the reason you keep snapping at her about Christopher is because you still have feelings for her. Tell her that you're worried that Christopher will hurt her and that you can't stand the thought of it. Tell her you're sorry and that you love her. She will understand." Nicky ran after Lorna and Alex looked at Piper in awe.

"How are you always so good at that?" Alex asked. "What do you mean?" "I mean that you always know just what to say to someone who is hurting, how to make them feel like everything will be alright, make them fall right back in love with you no matter what you've done," Alex said. Piper sat silently for a moment, deciding what she should say, "I guess that after I left Paris, I tried so many times to think up what I could say to you to get you to take me back, after a while I must have just gotten good at it. For weeks I tried day after day to call you, I would finally get up the courage to pick up the phone and then I would think to myself, she won't want you back. You left her, you abandoned her, why would she want that back in her life. Every time I would sit the phone back down and I would cry. I missed you so much but I knew that I didn't deserve you." Alex could see the tears in Piper's eyes. "You know I never stopped missing you. I would have taken you back in an instant. I was hurt that you left, but more than anything I was lonely and I was still in love with you. If you had called me and asked me to take you back, I would have promised to get a real job, to settle down and to live a normal life with you. I'll do anything for you Piper, because I love you." Now both women were crying. "When we get out of this place, if you still want to be with me, I promise you Pipes, I'll do whatever I have to do to make you happy. We will have wild adventures, but this time without all of the illegal business. I'll find a good job and I'll support you and we can be happy, like we always wanted to be." Piper leaned in and kissed Alex with happy tears running down her cheeks. "I hope you know I'm gonna hold you to that." Piper joked.


End file.
